Luis Buñuel’s “Diary of a Chambermaid” finally gets a U.S. Blu-ray release
- Peggy Earle
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
BLU-RAY REVIEW / SDR SCREENSHOTS
(1) French actress Jeanne Moreau stars as Célestine, the chambermaid, who arrives from Paris to work for a wealthy eccentric family in rural Normandy. (2) The sex-deprived son-in-law, M. Monteil (Michel Piccoli), grabs Célestine.
“DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID”
Blu-ray, 1964; unrated
Best extra: Commentary by film historian Imogen Sara Smith
LUIS BUÑUEL (“The Exterminating Angel”; “Belle de Jour”), collaborated with Salvador Dali to make the 1929 short film “Un Chien Andalou,” lauded as a classic of Surrealist cinema. Buñuel’s subsequent films all contained elements of Surrealism in them, in addition to harsh social criticism, primarily against the bourgeoisie and the clergy. While “Diary of a Chambermaid” is considered the beginning of the final period of Buñuel’s oeuvre, it shares much with his earlier work, especially in its skewering of the bourgeoisie and predicting the rise of fascism.
Adapted from a 1900 novel by Octave Mirbeau, but set in the early 1930s, the film was co-written for the screen by Jean-Claude Carrière, who collaborated with Buñuel on many films thereafter.
The great Jeanne Moreau (“The Bride Wore Black”) stars as Célestine, the title chambermaid, who arrives from Paris to work for a wealthy eccentric family in rural Normandy. With her air of big city sophistication and self-confidence, Célestine meets an assortment of oddball family members and neighbors: M. Raubour (Jean Ozenne), the elderly patriarch with a shoe fetish; his dejected, sex-deprived son-in-law M. Monteil (Michel Piccoli); his frigid, cleanliness-obsessed daughter (Françoise Lugagne); Joseph (Georges Géret), the family’s sadistic gamekeeper; their mischievous next-door neighbor Captain Mauger (Daniel Ivernel) and his maid/mistress Marianne (Muni), among others.
(1&2) Joseph (Georges Géret) drives Célestine to the home of the wealthy family where she'll be working. (3) Meeting the lady of the house, Madame Monteil (Françoise Lugagne). (4) Reading to the elderly patriarch, Monsieur Rabour (Jean Ozenne). (5) Célestine has broken a valuable lamp.
Célestine begins as something of an observer, who soon figures out how to handle everyone, while always being sure to take care of herself. When she’s had enough of the obnoxious family and their neighbors, she resigns, and is ready to return to Paris. But when she overhears that a horrific crime has occurred, and she’s certain she knows who did it, she decides to stay. She transforms herself into an amateur detective, determined to bring the culprit to justice, and is now someone the audience can root for. But, thanks to Buñuel’s cynical take on human nature, that does not last very long.
VIDEO/AUDIO
France-based StudioCanal provided the 2K master (2.35:1 aspect ratio) for this wonderfully composed black and white 1080p presentation from cinematographer Roger Fellous. The source was more likely from a second-generation fine-grain interpositive negative. And, the contrast level is well balanced, while all of the frames have been completely cleaned up and restored.
The video bitrate averages around 39 Megabits per second, and the imagery is nearly identical to the 2018 German Blu-ray (Region B) release. The only thing missing is a 4K restoration, which would’ve given the dominating wide shots the added cinematic resolution.
The original Mono French soundtrack has been restored in 2.0 DTS-HD Master, which puts the dialogue front and center. English subtitles are provided.
(1) Célestine lets M. Rabour indulge in his shoe fetish. (2) A young peasant girl, Claire (Dominique Sauvage), picks mushrooms and berries in the woods. (3) Célestine hears about Claire's rape and murder, and decides to stay in the village. (4) The police question the locals about the crime. (5) M. Mauger (Daniel Ivernel) proposes marriage to Célestine.
EXTRAS
The Blu-ray includes “An Angel in the Marshes,” a documentary about Buñuel; an interview with Jean-Claude Carrière; and a 2015 Q&A session with Carrière that took place in London in 2015.
Imogen Sara Smith’s commentary is typically excellent. She feels that “Diary of a Chambermaid” has been “somewhat overlooked,” as it’s considered “relatively un-Buñuelian.” Smith begs to differ, however, and points out that the film contains Buñuel’s “most-used themes and elements,” including his anti-clerical views” and it has no musical score, which was “fairly common” for the director. Even his casting reflected his past work, as Michel Piccoli and Muni were by then regulars in his films.
Smith discusses the 1900 novel on which the film is based. Its author, Octave Mirabeau, was an anarchist who publicly supported Captain Alfred Dreyfus in the famous treason case. Jean Renoir directed an earlier version of “Diary of a Chambermaid” in 1946, but Buñuel said he didn’t ever watch it. He moved the period of Mirabeau’s story up to the early 1930s to reflect his own childhood in rural Normandy. Buñuel “had a significant run-in with the far-right movement … and hated fascism,” during the rule of Franco in Spain, the director was exiled. In the film, “provincial France comes in for scathing treatment,” says Smith, emphasizing the “moral rot” of the bourgeois class, partly exemplified by the “idle destruction of the hunt.”
(1) Célestine is in Joseph's apartment to look for evidence of his guilt. (2) He proposes marriage to her. (3) He's arrested on the basis of the evidence provided by Célestine.
Smith notes that the film is “seen through Célestine’s eyes,” even though Buñuel never uses voiceovers. “Insects,” says Smith, “are another Buñuelian motif — he had studied entomology before he went into film — as when M. Monteil shoots a butterfly with a rifle, depicting what Smith calls “senseless violence against small creatures” Despite Buñuel’s focus on the flaws of the bourgeoisie and the demeaning way they treat their servants, the most hateful character in the film is a proletarian, the gamekeeper Joseph. He’s a blatant fascist who takes pleasure in cruelly torturing a goose before slaughtering it for his employers’ supper.
Smith points out that Buñuel, like the rest of the Surrealists, were “fascinated with sexual violence” as well as the icons and other religious symbols of Catholicism. But while the director “hated the Church, he was steeped in its imagery.” Smith explains that the second “half of the film is a dark fairytale” — specifically, “Little Red Riding Hood.” Claire (Dominique Sauvage), a poor little girl who spends time with the servants, is in the woods picking mushrooms and berries when she’s assaulted by Joseph. Smith describes the rape/murder scene as a “master class in how to suggest without showing.” At this point, Célestine has resigned her post and is about to leave the village, but decides to stay after she learns of Claire’s killing; she “becomes active — a detective,” says Smith.
Smith discusses the “paradoxical aspects” and “mass of contradictions” of Buñuel’s films, as most perfectly shown in the character of Célestine, who ultimately chooses to become much like the bourgeois employers she had despised. The film ends with a scene that seems very timely, in which a far right demonstration takes place in the town where Célestine has settled with her wealthy fascist husband, and Joseph (freed from prison on a technicality) is living his dream as a café owner with an adoring wife.
— Peggy Earle
Célestine and M. Mauger are married.